Royal Commonwealth Pool Refurbishment

What is being done to the Royal Commonwealth Pool (RCP) ?

Although well-used and much loved, the RCP is reaching the end of its useful life and requires a complete upgrade in order to continue serving both the local community and elite swimmers. This means a total refurbishment that will create a state-of-the art swimming and diving centre, with a 50m and two 25m pools, as well as an improved and extended gym.

What improvements will be made to the RCP?

Refurbished and new facilities are planned:

• An 8 lane 50m lane pool for community swimming and high performance swimmers, including those training for the Olympic and Commonwealth Games; the pool will be equipped with a boom to allow division into two 25m spaces, with a moving floor in one half to vary depth
• A 25m diving pool, with moving floor, which can also be used as a 25m swimming pool
• Another 25m pool with moving floor for swimming lessons and informal leisure use of pool toys, and to accommodate “warm-up” during competition
• A dry diving practice area with trampolines and safety harness
• New soft play activities
• A refurbished and expanded gym and three fitness studios
• A new changing village
• Meeting and conference rooms incorporating a ‘youth zone’.

When will work start?

The RCP is scheduled to close its doors to the public at 7pm on Sunday 28 June 2009. Edinburgh Leisure will decommission the facility and the building contractors John Graham (Dromore) Ltd will start on site on 3rd August 2009. Works are scheduled to take around two years with the facility reopening to the public around summer 2011.

Where will users of the RCP go during the closure?

To reduce disruption as much as possible, we are working with Edinburgh Leisure to match current users with alternative facilities. These will include schools, leisure centres, sports centres and other swimming pools. Edinburgh Leisure have information on alternative facilities on their website. The link to their pages on the RCP closure is at the top of this page. To contact Edinburgh Leisure please phone 0131 650 1001.

What is the estimated cost of the project?

The cost of the project is approximately £37 million, with some funding available from sportscotland.